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Genesis places the tree of life in the middle of the garden of Eden. 2 Enoch reshapes this imagery into a heavenly cosmic tree at the center of paradise where God himself rests, indescribable in fragrance and beauty.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 2:9
Hebrew Bible
8 The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.) 10 Now a river flows from Eden to water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams.
2 Enoch 8:3
Secrets of Enoch
Pseudepigrapha
2 I saw all the sweet-flowering trees and noticed their fruits, which smelled sweet, and all the foods they bore were bubbling with fragrant aromas. 3 In the midst of the trees was the tree of life, the place where the Lord rests when he goes to paradise. This tree is of indescribable goodness and fragrance, adorned more than anything else, appearing golden, vermilion, and fiery, covering all, and bearing all kinds of fruits. 4 Its root is in the garden at the earth's end.
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Notes and References
“... The tree of life is first mentioned in the Old Testament in Genesis 2:9; 3:23-24 (where the phrase is articular and refers to a well-known concept, and where the Yahwist writer uses it to frame the story of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; see Westermann, Genesis 1:211-14). A more mythological poetic description of the primal garden of God is found in Ezekiel 31:2-9, in which verse 8 specifically refers to trees in the Garden of God. The tree of life is not simply a symbol for eternal life alone but also represents the cosmic center of reality where eternal life is present and available, and where God dwells. The cosmic tree or tree of life represents the sacrality of the world in terms of its creation, fertility, and continuation and, therefore, is a tree of immortality. ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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